SPLENDID RUINS OP PERSEPOLI9. 



inches, diameter of columns four feet two inches, distance from 

 centre of base to the next centre twenty eight feet. To the east, 

 ward of one of these, and close at the foot of one of the highest 

 columns, are the fragments of an immense figure. The head and 

 part of the fore-legs I could easily trace ; the head appeared to me 

 more like that of a lion than of any other animal, and the legs 

 confirmed this supposition ; as it has claws so placed, as to indi- 

 cate fhat the posture of the figure was couchant. 



The grand collection of porticoes, walls, and other compo- 

 nent parts of a magnificent hall, are situated behind the columns, 

 at the distance perhaps of fifty paces, and are arranged in a 

 square. 



On the interior sides of the porticoes or door frames, are 

 many sculptured figures, which have been drawn with accuracy by 

 Le Brim. They represent the state and magnificence of a king, 

 seated in a high chair with his feet resting on a footstool. 



To the north of these remains is the frame of what was once 

 a portico, and where the outlines of a sphinx are to be traced 

 among the rude and stupendous masses of stone. Further on, 

 nearly on the same line and bearing, is the head of a horse, part 

 of which is buried in the ground. It is ornamented like the 

 remains of that which we call the sphinx on the great portals, and 

 is certainly the horse's head, which Le Brun drew, declaring that 

 he could not discover the part to which it had belonged. Close to 

 it, however, are the remains of an immense column, eight feet in 

 diameter; the different parts of the shaft have fallen in a direct 

 line with this head, and obviously formed with it one connected 

 piece in the original structure, in which probably the fragment on 

 the ground surmounted the capital, as the sphinx still crowns some 

 of the remaining columns. 



In the time of Mandelsloe, (who visited Persepolis, 27th 

 January, 1638) the number of columns erect was nineteen : in a 

 letter indeed to Olearius, (written from Madagascar on the 12th 

 of July, 1639, and published by his correspondent) he states, that 

 thirty remained ; but, as he does not specify their position, he 

 might have included those lying on the ground, and at any rate he 

 was writing a private letter, from memory, in a distant country, 

 at the interval of a year and a half. His own authority therefor e 

 in his book is a better evidence of the fact ; and as he there omits 

 another and much more curious circumstance which he had as. 



